Slowing Down
by TheGirlTwoDoorsDown
Summary: Tobirama was twelve when the world slowed down When Tobirama died, He unknowingly left a legacy that would change the whole world. It wasn't the legacy he thought he'd leave. There is a reason Tobirama and Minato were the only ones able to successfully use the hiraishin.
1. Tobirama Senju

Slowing Down

Chapter 1:

Tobirama Senju

Tobirama Senju was twelve when the world slowed down.

He was eating a small dinner with his brothers and his mother and there happened to be his favorite meal for dinner. In the mad rush to grab several servings before the rest of his brothers, he made time stop. How odd. Everyone seemed to be moving very slowly like they were in some type of clear molasses. Tobirama grabbed his food and then everything resumed back to normal.

It was selfish of him, but he didn't tell a soul about his ability. He didn't whisper it to Hashirama or hint at it to Itama. The whole Senju family was itching for a kekkei genkai and Tobirama saw how Hashirama's Mokuton made him the prized breeding pig. There is a certain intelligence to knowing when to shut your trap and Tobirama had this intelligence.

Time slowing was his little secret. He would practice it when he was absolutely alone. It was certainly useful in battle because it opened so many weaknesses in his opponent. It wasn't just that he was fast, it was that he sensed it at a normal speed so he had enough time to think through his actions and look for openings in his opponent's defense. He created a working teleportation jutsu to augment and play off of his kekkei genkai. Only he could use it because everyone else was either too dazed or too busy vomiting to continue fighting. It was really satisfying to watch his brother empty his breakfast after trying his hiraishin.

Gave him evil headaches when he overused it though.

It may have accidentally given him a reputation of being prickly and mean which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but certainly wasn't intentional. His brother needed someone with that sort of reputation backing him. While Hashirama could certainly handle himself and was plenty intelligent, he acted like the village idiot and that wasn't great at conveying strength.

His brother also needed someone who could ground his dreams in reality. While aspirations were great, they don't substitute for the concrete details needed to make these dreams reality. Tobirama was ideally placed to be this voice of pragmatism for his brother. He could build the institutions needed to make his brother's dream survive beyond their lifetimes.

If only his brother wasn't such a naïve idiot sometimes.

There are consequences to even good ideas and simple faith can't mitigate those. Tobirama's resigned to be the one to foresee the complications and to come with a plan to fix it that Hashirama will reject. They needed to create a whole new system of getting things done in the village that can withstand the consequences of a good idea and time. That's why they created the mission. Before, a nobleman would hire a shinobi clan to protect him at the sacrifice of their own lives. It was admittedly a lot better to have lots of specialists to choose from. There are still problems, but it works better and is generally more harmonious.

Sometimes when he was on missions he slept around a bit. He knew it was irresponsible, but who really was going to stop him? It gets tiring to be practical and responsible all the time. When he was around Hashirama he needed to be the pragmatic voice of reason, but here, out in the middle of nowhere, he could be anyone he wanted to be and no one would care one way or the other. Him being Senju didn't matter. His familial obligations didn't matter. He could just be alone. He didn't remember most of the women he slept with. There was a girl with blue eyes in the country of Rain, and the one with blonde hair on the border to Earth. They just weren't that important.

When he came back he didn't expect to be saddled with a genin team. While Hashirama had talked about all the jonin having the chance to teach the children, he hadn't expected that it would apply to him too. Every child seemed scared of him whenever he got near. Now he had to teach a bunch of brats how to not only survive but to thrive in this vicious world.

Hiruzen was a studious one and he'd come to do great things in the world. Homura was ever good at keeping schedules and making sure they got their jobs done on time and under budget. That seems small but that is a rare gift. Koharu had the eye for the bigger picture that Homura often lacked and that Hiruzen got lost in. He adored them. So much.

Then Hashirama died. It seemed impossible, but apparently, his endless optimism could run out. He was the Hokage now and he had a village to run. Mourning is important, but sometimes personal feelings and emotions have to be pushed out of the way for the greater good. He would deal with his grief later. Maybe.

And there was a definitely a war coming on top of the regular shit he dealt with. This was also a generation somewhat alien to the total bloodshed of the warring states period so they lack the resilience and unshakable quality that the adults were forced into having as children. It had been several years since Konoha and it wasn't that everyone had become complacent necessarily, but the luxury had allowed them to take some risks that would have paid off in the longer term, in shinobi sanity, but was biting them in the ass right now.

They need the children to have allegiance to Konoha above their clans. The academy was an obvious institution because the children create the future and he needed them to believe in Konoha as a whole. He conceived the idea of the Will of Fire when he was pissed drunk, but Hashirama loved the idea when he was alive and actually mentioned it in several of his speeches. Tobirama thought it was a bit silly as they were serious shinobi and a motto that encourages love and bonds seems antithetical to their purpose. Admittedly he could have thought of worse things while intoxicated. At least a fake ethos can unite people enough to lay down their lives for one another.

Feeling threatened, other shinobi villages formed to compete with Konoha. They've made aggressive moves since their inception in order to tear Konoha down. Konoha will not, will never, and cannot be cowed. Unfortunately, Konoha's steadfastness just means more paperwork and more meetings between delegates of the shinobi and delegates of the daimyos. Sometimes they're the same envoy. Sometimes all of them have completely different agendas even though existing in the same land. He hated it.

He didn't need to overuse his bloodline limit to get headaches anymore.

He decided to strike up an alliance between Konoha and Kumo to prevent future war, but that went terribly. He lay on the ground bleeding out and no help was coming.

He never felt fragile before. That was new.

At least the village was in relatively safe hands. Hiruzen was a little too young to be really taking up the job. Tobirama hoped to have a little more time before he gently forced Hiruzen to take on more leadership roles. Sometimes the best way to quickly learn is by necessity. At least Hiruzen had Koharu and Homura to see the things that he couldn't. They'd do well in taking care of his brother's dream.

Thinking of his precious students, maybe the will of fire had become real. If this was the legacy he left behind, He couldn't be prouder.


	2. Sayuri Ogawa

CW: non-graphic domestic abuse

Also hint hint name meanings play an important role in this chapter

Slowing Down

Chapter 2:

Sayuri Ogawa

Sayuri Ogawa was twelve when the world slowed down.

She was running in the house when she bumped into a shelf and knocked her mother's beloved wedding comb off. The comb hung in midair and Sayuri snatched it while it was suspended. It was a beautiful glass piece that her mother had saved when she got kicked out of her home for getting pregnant before marriage by a random traveling man. She placed the delicate comb back onto the shelf where it was safe from further excitement and then she went about her day.

Sayuri didn't think too much of the world slowing down as she had bigger concerns like her mother trying to marry her off to whoever would take her. Her mother never got the chance to marry up in society and she was determined that she would do better by her daughter. The problem was that nobody wanted the bastard child. Her red eyes were unnerving and she looked nothing like her mother except for the hair and the nose. Nobody worth any money was willing to bid on her unrefined and unimportant hand.

Getting pregnant out of wedlock was a massive taboo in Earth country. Sayuri had no idea who her father was. Maybe he was a shinobi or some type of merchant. That would explain why he was a traveler. Because her mother got pregnant, she had to leave her village and hike to the nearest town that would take pity on a banished pregnant teenager. While her mother was from the border of Earth country near Grass, they now lived in the heartland. Rivers came flowing down from the tops of the mountains making the ground fertile. As most small towns were, everyone was gossipy and Sayuri wanted to leave.

When she was 19, a handsome stranger came into their town. His name was Daichi Michizuka and he was the most beautiful person Sayuri had ever seen. His eyes were the color of the sky at the mountain's peak and his hair the color of buttercups. He offered no engagement money and couldn't give anything except the promise of forever. Her mother hated him, but her mother didn't matter.

Sayuri Ogawa became Sayuri Michizuka. They married in a small ceremony and Sayuri wore her mother's glass comb. Then Sayuri said goodbye to her home in Earth and moved with her new husband to the capital of Fire country.

The land of Fire was a strange place. The people were softer than in the land of Earth, but they were also less loyal as well. Niceties were freely given, but kindness was not. The food was strange too. It was simultaneously under and over seasoned. That was all okay though. She loved her husband dearly and was willing to put up with this odd place for their family.

They had a child together. Keiryu Michizuka was born with his father's coloring and his mother's bone structure. A quiet child, he was almost too well behaved and his mother was worried for him if he didn't learn to speak up for himself. It was sweet how after he read his age-appropriate books, he'd try and read one of the novels that were left out on the counter. He actually pronounced most of the words correctly which was quite commendable.

Sayuri, Daichi, and Keiryu would walk together hand in hand to the restaurant to drop Daichi off. Then, the mother and son would walk Keiryu to class and Sayuri would work a half day at the factory before picking Keiryu back up. It was far from perfect, but it was almost idyllic.

Sayuri loved Daichi and her son so deeply. Then Daichi started getting jealous whenever she'd talk to other men. It was sweet so she'd laugh off her ridiculous husband. Then he wanted her to quit her job to take care of Keiryu full time, but they couldn't afford that. He started getting angry all the time and when he was angry he was another person entirely. After every fight, he'd break down crying and beg for her forgiveness and she'd give it to him because she didn't have time for him to sulk and then get angry again. He started hitting her, but that was fine. She was strong; she could handle it. He would kick her and punch the wall and leave bruises all over her skin, but that was fine. She knew it wasn't good, but Sayuri took care of Daichi when he was sobbing even if she should have been the one crying.

One time when Keiryu refused to do his homework, like a normal toddler, Daichi slapped Keiryu across the face.

No.

He could hit her all he wanted, but touching Keiryu crossed the line.

The next morning, she walked hand in hand with her husband and son to drop Daichi off. However, instead of taking Keiryu to school, she walked back to their apartment and pulled out some baskets

She told the four-year-old Keiryu that they were going on an adventure and that he had to start packing his bags. He went about the task with expected 4-year-old inelegance. She had to repack everything, but Keiryu was happy he got to bring his frog toy so all was good. Armed with a duffel of their belongings and a child in need of a nap, Sayuri headed down to the pier where all the inter-city transit options were.

There was a convoy heading to the land of Grass where she could smuggle herself and Keiryu across the border to Earth or there was a boat to Konoha. She could go to one or the other and both were leaving within the hour.

She really wanted to move back to Earth. Things made sense there. It was home.

But she had to pay more to go to Grass and that was just money she didn't have. On top of that, she'd have to sneak into Earth which would be a difficult task because of the terrain and because the daimyo made Iwa militant about their borders.

But she wanted to go home.

With sad eyes and a heavy heart, she walked with Keiryu to the docks.

Maybe Konoha would be nice too. If Daichi decided to chase after her, there was a whole village of shinobi she could hire to chase him down. Also, if she enrolled Keiryu in the Shinobi Academy, he could learn how to defend himself. People might make more sense there; she heard that shinobi tended to be blunter than civilians which would suit her just fine. While in Iwa she would be farther away from that man, it wouldn't be worth the trouble. Konoha was good enough.

She stood on the pier looking out over the water with her hair rippling in the breeze, Keiryu clutching her hand. Dirt and earth could guide them no more. They became the wind and the waves.


	3. Minato Namikaze

Slowing Down

Chapter 3:

Minato Namikaze

Minato Namikaze was twelve when the world slowed down.

A young woman tried to pickpocket his mother while they were out grocery shopping. When Minato started running over, everyone around him just sort of froze. He dashed past the old woman arguing with one of the employees and ran past the little kids who were hanging off of every surface. He grabbed the lady by the wrist and time went back to normal

His mother looked at where he was and how fast he ran over, and then tilted her head. She smiled at the young woman and plucked her wallet back.

"Minato," His mother smiled through her clenched teeth, "could you please turn this young lady over to the authorities?"

Minato smugly -though he tried his best not to show it- escorted the petty thief to the nearest policeman. He ran back to his mother who had finished purchasing their food and they went home to their apartment.

Minato grew up on Kawarama avenue with all the Earth immigrants. They weren't a numerous bunch, but for a couple blocks all anyone could hear was Earth language spilling from lips. There was the one store that specialized in Earth foods and at the end of the road was the renowned Earth-style potter whose fumes from the kiln made the whole street complain. It wasn't a typical upbringing for a Konoha shinobi, but it was Minato's Konoha.

His mother worked in an Iwa themed resturaunt that was popular only with shinobi. The civilians deemed it disloyal to eat food that originated in their rival country. Only the shinobi who had to go near Iwa during a mission would come to the resturaunt and that was because Rock food was delicious. He grew up learning to speak Earth with the waiters and all the staff who were happy to chat as long as he didn't interfere with their work. He heard the shinobi talk and laugh about their experiences on the field and who had the coolest scar. He really wanted to be a ninja.

Minato was ecstatic when he was signed up for the academy. Every patron heard him ramble about how he was going to be best ninja ever and he was going to be so cool and have such an intimidating nickname. The ninja would just ruffle his hair and laugh and reminisce about their academy days. When his back was turned, they'd look wistfully at the happy civilian kid who was probably going to die when he hit the field.

They had nothing to worry about. Minato was pretty good at the whole ninja thing. It helped that time was on his side.

He was a bit directionless as a chunin. Jiraiya saw him as this savior child, but he didn't really feel like a savior to anyone. He was pretty good at killing things and was a bit infamous for his stone-cold face while working, but that wasn't what saviors did. Plus, it was looking like they were going to have to go to war with Iwa and that didn't sit well with Minato. He and his mother never had any ties to Iwa itself, but they were Earth people -Minato only half- and he didn't know if he could look into their eyes and know that he could have been one of them had his mother decided to risk it. Empathy was the death of a ninja and Minato heart was too open.

He was having dinner at his mother's apartment that night. She made him a rock rice cake like he was 10 years old again and coming home with a perfect test score.

"Stop scrunching your brow when you're thinking too hard. It will give you premature wrinkles," she scolded scrunching her brow in the exact same manner her son did.

"But what if you want to look wise?" Minato sassed.

Sayuri rolled her eyes at her smartass son.

"Then put on some glasses. They made Mitokado look smart and he's still duller than a box of river stones."

"Mom," Minato exclaimed scandalized, "He's on the council! You're not supposed to say that!"

"You're not disagreeing with me."

Minato gave no response which said all that she needed to hear.

"What's worrying you?" She asked.

"It's nothing really."

His mother raised her eyebrow.

"It's just, I dunno, we're almost certainly going to war with Iwa and I can't help but thinking about how I would have been and Iwa nin if you had made a different choice," He admitted while running his hand through his hair.

"But I chose to raise you here so why does it matter? Yes, I could have taken you to Iwa although I probably would've settled somewhere else," Sayuri said, "Your precious people are here Minato. Think about them instead of where you could have been. They're the ones need you."

Minato sat in silence for a minute. His mother narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're too skinny. You better not be accidentally starving yourself because you never paid attention to my cooking lessons. When you marry Kushina-" His mother ranted.

Minato's face turned scarlet as he exclaimed, "Mom! I haven't even asked her out!"

His mother paid no heed to his embarrassment and continued to give him unsolicited and unhelpful cooking advice.

After he got promoted to jonin on the battlefield, Minato wanted to learn the hiraishin. It wasn't actually a super highly classified technique despite being created by the Nidaime. It was used sometimes to flee from dangerous areas quickly, but nobody used it during battle, because no one could use it for battle. Most people got so disoriented from the quick motion that they'd just barf. If a person could hold their lunch, they had to recalibrate themselves quickly enough to their environment to fend off enemy combatants which no one ever could. It was just very impractical.

Minato wasn't most ninja though. He had this weird thing he could do -he was hesitant to call it a bloodline limit- which lent itself to that specific technique. If he timed it right, he could use the slowed down time to get a hold of himself and where he was in relation to everything. He could zip around the battlefield quickly and take out combatants before they even had the chance to strike. Tobirama's seals could be improved though. If you had more than seven markers, it became difficult to select where the person would teleport to and Minato needed an infinite number of teleportation spots to use this technique to its full potential.

Minato wondered how Tobirama managed to use this unwieldy teleportation in battle without the ability to slow time down.

When Minato announced his modified hiraishin to Kushina she laughed hard at its long and ridiculous name. She then tried to not laugh and take it seriously which only made her laugh more. Minato didn't know whether to feel slightly hurt or just to adore his girlfriend more. He chose the latter. She's great.

Minato was a killing machine. All he had to do was zip around the field and then the combatants were dead. That plus his Rasengan made him get in more and more bingo books. He even had an embarrassing nickname: 'Konoha's Yellow Flash'. Weren't those names supposed to be badass? Everyone else got cool monikers like 'White Fang' or 'The Sannin' but the moniker Minato got was kind of wimpy. He had slightly too many feelings on the matter.

Then he got saddled with a genin team. It's traditional to only get a genin team after 3 years of service, but there was war and tradition had to be modified. He got three very different students: Obito, who was competent if he could just focus, Rin, who was shaping up to be a solid medic and the most mentally sound, and Kakashi, who was extremely good at killing people but not at anything else. They needed a lot of work. Kakashi was best as an independent shinobi, but was downright abysmal at teamwork. Rin was the best at teamwork and could drag the boys into resigned acceptance of each other's existence, but she got flustered easily in high stress situations. Obito would pick fights with Kakashi over such stupid things, but he was physically the strongest and would have the largest chakra.

Right before Kannabi, Obito and Rin were finally starting to yank Kakashi out of his isolation and put on stoicism. It was really refreshing to see a hint of a smile from underneath his mask. They were all idiosyncratic, but they were just starting to mesh together and become a whole rather than three individuals saddled together. Minato was giddy at the thought of moving on from all those boring trust exercises.

When war comes, it's too easy to forget that genin are children. Sometimes the genin forgot too. Kakashi did more than forget; he actively suppressed his childhood to become the shinobi he thought he had to be. Rin and Obito had their moments of being childish -Obito more than Rin- but it was easy to forget that they weren't just adults in small bodies. During the Kannabi bridge Minato forgot because he had to.

Then Obito died.

Then Rin died.

Minato was glad to not be from Earth for the simple reason of not having to face his own wrath and grief in battle. He crushed Iwa's forces with vengeance. It would never bring them back, but at least he could make them all pay for starting this pointless war filled pointless fighting resulting in pointless death. Minto was going to drown them all in sorrows and jutsu.

The war ended and Sarutobi let Minato have a heavy part in drafting the peace documents. Everyone pretended that Sarutobi wasn't complaining loudly about how old he was for the hat and how nice it would be for someone a little more youthful vigor to take up the mantle. Oroichimaru called Minato young and inexperienced, which was a fair point. It didn't negate the fact that Oroichimaru was bitter.

What made Minato so devastating during the negotiation talks wasn't exclusively his terrifying reputation or his ruthless logic, it was also that he understood everything that the Iwa nin were saying. They would try to pull a fast one on him with the translators and it wouldn't work. Afterwards, he struck up a conversation with Onoki in the Earth language. His reaction was worth any tactical error that revealing his command of the language would have granted.

Earth had to pay war reparations through the nose and Minato couldn't have been smugger.

After the war his life was almost perfect. He married Kushina, was chosen to become the Yondaime Hokage, and had a child on the way.

Then Minato died.


	4. Naruto Uzumaki

Naruto Uzumaki was twelve when the world slowed down.

He'd just made instant ramen and was waiting those nasty three minutes for them to cook. While putting on his jacket, he bumped the cup off of the counter and everything went flying. Time slowed down, and he caught it with most of the broth still inside. There were no towels in his apartment so he had to use his jacket to mop it up.

Naruto didn't really take much note of the odd situation as he never was looking for any special abilities to appear and it easily could have been his mind playing tricks on him. He finished his breakfast and went off to the academy.

Naruto Uzumaki was a young boy who had everything and nothing going for him.

He had an impressive lineage, enviable chakra stores, and the added powerhouse of the nine-tails. However, there was no one to pick up the slack when Minato and Kushina died so Naruto grew up alone. His grandmother died in the attack. Kakashi was too young and emotionally unstable to be raising a kid. None of the clans could adopt him without being accused of hoarding power. The hokage couldn't possibly devote enough time to a hyperactive child when he had to run the village. Jiraiya couldn't keep a plant alive let alone a human. None of the civilians would ever consider even fostering him because of the Kyuubi. No one who wanted this child could take him in and no one who could take him in wanted him.

Hiruzen liked to curse under his breath the mysterious person in the council that let the secret leak. Was it Mitokado? Who was he kidding, it was definitely Mitokado.

Naruto got kicked out of the orphanage at eight and had to raise himself. It was a disaster from the beginning. He didn't learn that milk expires or that rock cake tastes best with some powdered sugar on top. He never got put in time outs for breaking his mom's vase while playing ninja. Nobody was there to check his homework or to make sure he was finishing his beginning reader books. Naruto learned what day rent was due and how to estimate unforeseen surcharges from the landlord. He ate ramen every day and had ice cream for breakfast if he could afford it. The old man would sometimes come over and check up on his successor's son. He'd make sure at least once a week he had a meal that was approximately healthy and encourage Naruto to buy new clothes when his old ones were full of holes. That was the closest he got to having a parent.

He might have had great parents who loved him, but they died and that's where their relevancy ends. There was no one there to love and guide the young boy. So, Naruto, at thirteen, had the reading skills of a nine-year-old and the punch of one too. Somehow, he still managed to pass the ninja academy.

The burden got passed on to Kakashi, a man who didn't know how to interact with anyone who hadn't had to leave their best friend bleeding out on a battle-field to survive. Children were not his forte. In the mornings, team seven drilled moves and in the afternoons, they did whatever inane chore they had been assigned. Naruto and Sasuke always sparred first and then whoever lost would fight Sakura. It made Naruto a pretty fair for Sakura since Naruto almost never got a good lick in. It was terrible for teambuilding but, once again, Kakashi wasn't good with children.

One morning Naruto and Sasuke were sparring once more and Sakura was analyzing their moves and how each could improve, though she spent most of the time looking at how Sasuke's hair moved when he fought. Kakashi stood near her reading that garbage book. The fight was going as it typically did -Sasuke beating Naruto through better planning and efficiency of motion, but losing stamina quickly- and Naruto was sick of it.

He was tired of that asshole beating him every single time and the asshole wasn't that great anyway. His stamina was terrible and his raw strength wasn't that good either. When Naruto caught up, he was going to way surpass the jerk and be a better ninja than he could ever dream of and all it would start with would be a little punch. Just one punch to the asshole's face and he'd be on the road to greatness. He'd savor the punch too. Oh he wanted to hurt the bastard.

The world slowed down and Naruto pulled his fist back. With Sasuke moving like he was wading through clear molasses, it was almost comically easy to see where he was going to strike. When Sasuke was aiming for the side of Naruto's face and Naruto intercepted it with an uppercut to the jaw. Skin rippled from the point of contact like a pale tsunami. Naruto could see a little bit of spit, blood, and maybe a tooth coming out from Sasuke's mouth that was moving towards Naruto's face. He dodged it in time and a small amount sprayed onto Saukra.

"Yo Naruto, how'd you manage to hit Sasuke like that? I've never seen her move that fast before," Kakashi asked squinting.

Sakura ran over to support Sasuke while he held his hand over his mouth and blood dripped from the bottom. Sasuke glared daggers at Naruto. It was glorious.

"I dunno. He slowed down for some reason so I just punched him. He really shouldn't move in slow motion. It doesn't actually make you look cooler ya know."

"Naruto," Sakura said, "Sasuke wasn't moving in slow motion; you just sped up, like, a lot."

Naruto did a double take flipping his head between Kakashi and Sakura.

"Wait? I did? Kakashi-sensei am I a super-ninja with super extra special ninja powers?"

"Well, why don't we test that out," Kakashi said, "Naruto, I'm going to punch you and I want you to catch the punch at the speed you did when you hit Sasuke,"

When Kakashi went to punch Naruto, the world didn't slow down and Naruto fell backwards to the ground. Ugh his butt hurt.

"Hey Sensei," Sakura piped up "I think Sasuke lost a tooth."

Sasuke took his hand away from his mouth and sure enough, there was a blank spot where a the left tooth should have been. Kakashi gave Sakura permission to escort Sasuke to the hospital to get patched up and maybe a new tooth. Since they weren't essential for survival, the waiting list for fake teeth was rather long.

When the two left, Naruto tried again, and again, and again, and again, and again, but never managed to make the world slow down. Every time, he'd fall back on his butt and if it was painful the first time, it really hurt then. Kakashi raised the one eyebrow that Naruto could see and Naruto pulled himself back up.

"Kakashi-sensei, what if it was a fluke?"

Kakashi sighed and closed his porn book.

"Naruto, if you get this one more time today, I'll buy you ramen and you won't have to do a D-rank this afternoon."

"We still have to do a D-rank? But Sasuke-"

"You won't have to if you get it."

Naruto took a deep breath and put himself back into a fighting stance. He didn't want to fall back on his butt again. It was painful and he'd fallen enough. And he could avoid a D-rank too. It'd be more tolerable with Sasuke away, but that meant less people to weed whoever's garden they had to weed. And he was hungry too. So hungry. And his allowance was running out for the week cause he spent all of it on rent and there wasn't enough for food. God, he wanted to catch that punch.

When Kakashi struck, the world slowed down. Naruto gasped, squaked, and jumped around in excitement at Kakashi moving so painfully slow. He paused a second and then remembered that he was supposed to catch the punch so he held his hand up to Kakashi's fist, and the world sped up again. When Naruto go, Kakashi shook out his hand.

"So, am I a magic ninja?"

"Maybe. You might have a kekkai genkai," He said unusually serious, "They typically run in families. Sometimes they're kept pretty secret so one of your parents might not have told anyone if they'd had one."

"Woah! I come from a ninja family?"

Kakashi looked sadly at him, though it was hard to tell with only his one eye exposed. He then walked over and rustled Naruto's hair.

"Naruto, this is an incredibly valuable resource and it's going to take a lot of work to get this skill to its full potential. Are you willing to do the work?"

"Hell yeah I am!" Naruto yelled vibrating with energy.

Kakashi took his hand off of Naruto's head and pulled his porn back out.

"All right, you can start by shaving off 10 seconds off your lap time without using your kekkai genkai."

Naruto nodded excitedly and stared expectantly staring up at Kakashi.

"Naruto, you're not running."

"Oh, now?" Naruto pointed at the ground, "I thought we were going to get ramen?"

Kakashi nodded evily and Naruto groaned as he started sprinting around the training grounds.

Weeks went by and Naruto got faster and faster and practiced the slowing almost every day. The more he practiced the worse headaches he got. They felt like someone took a hammer and rammed the pointy side over and over into where the base of the spine met the neck. His ears rang constantly.

One night, Naruto was staying up late putting a cold washcloth on the back of his neck to try and get rid of his migrane. He reluctantly got up off of his bed to answer the door only to be surprised at Sakura was the one at the door. She wrung her hands as her long hair fell in her face.

"Hey Naruto, you've been getting pretty good at fighting right?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah? What's this about?" Naruto said while putting his hand at the back of his head and rubbing to try make his headache die down enough to hold a conversation.

Sakura looked up and tucked her hair behind her ears.

"If I tutor you in the more academic part of being a ninja if you help me with fighting and the physical stuff."

Naruto cocked his head to the side and asked "what's this about all of a sudden?"

It was honestly super weird. Sakura didn't like him so much, but he backed off on trying to make her like him since Kakashi said that it was making her dislike him more. She never asked him for any advice or any sort of help before or even really treated him kindly so this was a big difference.

"May I come in?"

Naruto gestured to his studio and Sakura walked in and then wrinkled her nose at the smell of moldy old ramen containers. She moved his dirty pile of clothes onto the floor from off of the couch and then sat down where they used to be.

She took a deep breath in and out then blurted out, "Kakashi-sensei urged me to talk to the science and development team and focus on that."

"That sounds like a real good fit though?" Naruto said as he sat down on the couch next to her.

In movies this was when the suave and charming guys made a move. Should he make a move? Sakura was pretty and Naruto liked to think he was charming, but that might be asking too much of the situation.

"I know that. I know it would be a good fit -a great fit- but it just feels like he's giving up on me," She confessed "I'm not used to failing and I'm not used to people giving up on me like that."

She looked so pretty when she was sad. Her hair was falling into her face again and all Naruto wanted to do was to tuck it back behind her ear. He lifted his hand a little bit. Wait, no, bad idea. She was said and vulnerable and Naruto wouldn't want someone to tuck his hair behind his ear when he was about to cry. Oh wait, he had to respond.

"But what if I help ya and ya don't make it work?" Naruto asked.

Sakura pulled her feet up onto the couch and held herself in a little ball, "at least I'll have tried. At least I'll have proved I have the willpower to try things and work on things that I'm not naturally good at."

"Why haven't ya asked Sasuke. He's the one that you like."

She planted her face into her knees and mumbled "he'd just say I'm pathetic and useless and that I should just go quicker to the science division."

Well, clearly Sakura's dreams were shattered and that wouldn't happen unless-

"Did he say all that to ya? I knew he was an asshole."

"I don't want to talk about it right now Naruto. It's safe to say the crush is over, done, kaput. How could I be in love with someone who'd say all those awful things?"

Was there someone new she was interested in? Someone comforting her maybe? Naruto was about to ask that when he paused and realized that would end with a punch in the head and her crying as she left the apartment.

She took in a deep breath and looked up at Naruto.

"Naruto, we both want to be good ninjas. I have the brains; you have the brawns. If I tutor you in the brains, will you train me with the brawns?"

Naruto laughed "I dunno what brawn means, but I was never going to turn ya down ya know."

"Okay I guess tutoring starts today; brawns means brute strength like muscle-"

Naruto asked what 'brute' meant. Sakura's widened and her mouth opened. She picked up one of their old textbooks that was used to boost a potted plant closer to the window and opened it to a page in the middle.

"Read this," she commanded while holding to book out for Naruto to take.

"Ya kiddin' right?" he asked.

"No. Read this out loud to me. Right now." She demanded forcing the textbook into his hands.

They both learned that Naruto read at the level of a nine-year-old and Sakura could not let that stand. They agreed to meet before each training session

A few days later, they left to Wave country. Sasuke unlocked his Sharingnan and Sakura hadn't built up enough muscle to properly fight anyone so she still felt inadequate. When they got back, Sakura and Naruto continued their training and study sessions. When they got offered the chance to enter the Chunin exams Sakura stayed behind because, simply put, their team wasn't ready. A team is only as weak as its weakest link and physically the weak link was still Sakura and intellectually the weakest link was Naruto. They couldn't be good ninja yet and entering the competition early was asking for death or dismemberment. So, she stayed home.

The training session the day after was brutal and ugly. All Sasuke wanted to do was pummel Sakura into the ground for not showing up and then pummel Naruto deeper into the ground for agreeing with her. Kakashi had actually put down his book and intervene to pull Sasuke back. Apparently, the concept of a team and relying on others was slowing him down.

After the second round of the chunin exams ended, Sasuke just didn't show up to their morning training. He was gone without a trace, and Naruto was hurt, but not as hurt as he thought he'd be.

They kept training together as a now three-man team and things went pretty well. Sakura grew significantly stronger and Naruto caught up on his reading level.

Konoha got invaded, the hokage died, apparently there was someone who knew mokuton because they stopped the Ichibi. Naruto avoided the mass funeral for all those who died in the invasion because there were a lot of sad drunk people and sad drunk people can turn angry quickly. After it ended, he wrote a note to his honorary grandpa, the only sort of family he had left, using his brand new vocab and penmanship skills, and delivered it to his grave.

They got assigned a genin whose team got slaughtered in the attack. They were almost as sullen as Sasuke, weaker definitely, but significantly nicer. Sakura and Naruto had their first kills during the same mission, a escort mission through bandit territory gone wrong, and cried on each other's shoulders.

Sakura's mother had an old sealing book that Sakura found and started learning from. When she found out it was an Uzumaki sealing book she asked her mother why she had it if the Uzumakis all died. Apparently, her mother survived.

A new hokage was chosen and a new war was started with Lightning attacking Konoha from the outside because they were weak. Earth joined in. Apparently old grudges weren't settled.

Naruto and Sakura got field promotions, and their teammate died. Naruto learned the Hiraishin and the Rasengan. If old grudges weren't settled, the countries would quake with fear at the legacy of Naruto's ancestors. Naruto was a one-man army and he would make everyone understand his pain and grief.

Sasuke came to the fight to kill Naruto, Naruto wasn't really sure why. The asshole's still a pitiful asshole all these years. As Sasuke blinked, opening his Rasengan, Naruto got in a fighting pose.

And the world slowed down.


End file.
